willc.me

On New Years Eve the world becomes a hub of social activity. “What are you doing for New Years?”, is a question asked months in advance. So what are you doing for New Years and will it be any good?

The answer, sadly, is probably “no”. Why? Well put simply, New Years is possibly the most anti-climactic event of the whole year.

Hark back to this time a decade ago to when people thought aeroplanes would be falling out the sky as the Millennium Bug bought the world crashing down around us. But it didn’t happen. Because it was New Years and it has to be an anti-climax.

What normally happens is you end up with a big group of your friends getting more wasted than you normally do, which sounds amazing until you take into acount what happens when people get more wasted than they normally do.

Someone will lose their bag or get upset or throw up or get in a fight or all of the above. Which tends to ruin everyone’s night.

Fortunately for us all, when we finally wake with a disgusting hang over it’ll be a new year. And the grass is always greener on the other side as they say. So despite my cynicism I wish you all a great and successful 2010. Happy New Year everyone.

So as New Years rapidly approaches people are obviously preparing costumes. Last year was the first year that i found out that you’re meant to dress up for New Years even if you aren’t going to a costume party. This year there is a Las Vegas theme where I’m going. But how does one dress for that?

Some costume parties are really easy to dress for. Your 1920’s swing parties are relatively straight forward. Merely dress smart. They used to do an amazing night at the Grill Room in Cafe Royal where everyone would adhere to the 1920’s dress code really strictly. It meant that walking in through the door was like being transported back in time complete with music, proper champagne glasses as opposed to flute and beautiful outfits.

If they’re done well, costume parties are amazing. However, if they’re done badly and the dress code is along the lines of, “Come dressed as x, but if you don’t then it doesn’t matter that much”. It just means you have a few people dressed like clowns and the rest in normal clothing. Which takes away from it.

The problem with dressing up in theme for New Years is that so much happens and there are so many parties that by dressing in costume for one means that you’re direly out of place at the others. You don’t want to go to a toga party dressed like Elvis. That’d be a little strange.

The best place for costumes is Angels who supply TV and film costumes so they’re always amazing. I want to throw a Tudor party and have everyone dress up specially. That could be cool. If you need an outfit then definitely check out Angels.

So basically, if done well, costume parties are amazing. If they’re poorly organised then they’re normally like a normal party, just worse. Now where am I going to find a Vegas outfit?

When you hear the word Selk it doesn’t really mean much. In fact it could be anything. What it is though is one of the coolest inventions ever in the entire world. It’s a sleeping bag, but with arms and legs and a hood. Which basically means that it’s like being in bed all the time. Which I hear is what opiates are like.

They cost £89.99 off the store and they look truly amazing. On the site they say that the full body suits can be used “Whether you are trekking in the mountains, cosying on the sofa or simply desire to be the coolest cat at a music festival”. I wanna be the coolest cat at a music festival!

The real question is, does anyone actually use sleeping bags. They remind me too much of body bags and being in tents. To be honest, i reckon being in a body bag is preferable to being in a tent as it means you’re already dean and don’t have to endure being on a camp site or some other grim thing like that.

But the Selk is more than  sleeping bag. The most fun i ever had with a sleeping bag, was a kid, going inside one the wrong way and battling with my friends. With the Selk you can wear it around the house, or dare I say it, to the shops. Hell, if it were cold enough i may even wear one to a club.

The optimal comfort temperature is 7ºC outside but in extreme mode it’ll go down to -13ºC. That’s pretty cold. I like the idea of being in bed all the time where ever you are. Who will be the first to buy one?

Throughout the ages it seems that to be truly immortalised you have to die young. Dying an old and natural death just isn’t very sexy. Plus it means that you’ve had time to get old and not be cool or worse, get old and think you’re still cool. There’s evemn a club of musicians that died at the age of 27 called 27 club or Forever 27.

Since the beginning of time, myth and legend has followed those who died young. If you look at all the Greek myths, the one person who stands out the most would be Achilles. Maybe that’s just pedantic but the next one can’t be denied. A whole religion got started around him. Jesus. By dying young he became immortalised.

Then there was Gaius Julius Caesar. He was murdered by his oldest friend and his name is now in the annals of history and will never be forgotten. Many countries have a variant of his name as the word for king, like, Tsar, Kaiser, etc.

But let’s bring it forward a few thousand years to a time that people care about more. Have a look at the world of film and undoubtably two of the most iconic people of the 2oth century. Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. James Dean died in car accident at the age of 24. His last words were, “That guy’s gotta stop… He’ll see us.” As for Monroe, she died of acute barbiturate poisoning which led to the coroner recording a death of “probable suicide”.

Even more recently we’ve had the 27 club. This was the name given to a group of musicians who all died at the age of 27 within 2 years of each other. They were Janis Joplin, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison of the Doors. Later Kurt Cobain joined the club by committing suicide when he was 27.

The allure and subsequent immortality with dying young is no doubt in part to the fact that you never grow old. Obvious as that may seem, it means that these people are always remembered as youthful and vibrant, at the top of their game. It’s an attraction that may have led to Cobain’s suicide.

And if you don’t think that’s the reason then imagine what Pete Doherty or Amy Winehouse will look like when they’re old. They’ll fade in amongst everyone else. If either had have died at the peak of their careers then they would have been imortalised. Now they’ll be fond memories for us and musicians our kids will listen to to be cool when we’re 50.

As the Festive period draws to a close and the New Year one night stand of hell approaches rapidly, I can’t help but feeling a little cabin fever. I haven’t left the house in two days, part in fact to my purchase of Rock Band and partly because it seems every “poor East London student” actually has a massive house in the country. Which leaves me searching for creative cures for boredom.

Everyone seems to go away at this time of year to escape the lull in London. Many of the clubs are shut and unfortunately for us this year, the lull falls on a Sunday and Monday meaning that most of the clubs are shut anyway. Being used to drinking most nights it seems that the only cure for boredom is a subtle blend of alcohol and marijuana.

It’s now been two days since Christmas Day and there are still vast reserves of alcohol remaining. Vast reserves that are being steadily depleted as New Years looms. Because let’s face it, even the crappiest Channel 5 movie can be entertaining when you’re hammered.

The other obvious cure for the boredom created by not having to go to work and not being able to go out is weed. Cannabis Sativa also alleviates boredom by putting you in a coma like trance, perfect for monging in front of the TV. Not that I’ve tried it, obviously.

And it seems that it’s not just my commune of friends round here that are getting involved with getting wasted as a cure for boredom. A brief soiree to the supermarket saw a raft of stoned 20-30 year olds congregating in the snacks aisle, stinking of weed and blinking at the bright lights. The booze section had been ravaged and a group of boozed up middle aged people grabbed more red wine.

So it seems that the cure for not having to work and having to wait for New Year would be to stay in a permanent state of inebriation. Not that I’m recommending going out and getting wasted, at this time of year it seems the place to get trashed is the front room.